a bleeding purple utah jazz blog

Bits from Dennis Lindsey Interview, 7/22

On Trevor Booker
Trevor Booker is someone that we think adds a level of physicality and toughness to our group. I think many times last year we did not have the requisite physicality inside. And so, Trevor is naturally tough. He’s hard-playing. He really runs the court well; I think that’s another value-add that he’ll add, is h–Trevor can really get out and sprint the court well.

And Trevor’s really, if you sh–study his shot chart, has improved his long 2-point shooting, and he’s an excellent, even at 6-8, he’s an excellent finisher in the deep paint. So we think there’s a lotta qualities there, [and] we’re really excited to add him to the program.

He’s a man of very high character, really professional, and w–he’s just ecstatic to be part of the community.

On the Jazz’s new contract incentive
A big part of our program is, we want to include Salt Lake more in our off-season training. So we’ve added some technology to the building. We’ve added incentives into guys’ contracts to, so they have to be around Salt Lake.

And it’s, look, it’s not like we wanna dominate the guys and our players and says, “You have to live here,” but we think it’s very important for each of our guys to improve to be here, so that’s something that’s been a real push for us as well.

Do you have enough shooters? Are you looking to add more?
My general philosophy is you can’t have enough shooting. And look, many times adding shooting to your club, whether it’s free agency, trade or draft, is not something that’s real sexy.

But I’ve never been around a coach in my 19 years in the league that says, “Gosh dang it, we have too much shooting. Can we get rid of shooting?” But almost yearly, we’ve had coaches come to us and say, “We don’t have enough shooting.”

So I, frankly, even though we’ve added a great shooter in Steve Novak, I think there’s a lot to add in a great shooter. When you have a Steve Novak, when you have a Kyle Korver, what it does, the ball tends to find those guys, especially in stretches where you can’t make a shot. And when they get on a few of their runs, it gives everybody else some confidence…

It’s almost like a collective deep breath, even when you have it in a role player like Steve. Those 15 minutes of shooting can be critical to your primary players and to your overall offensive mental health, if you will.

How or where do you see Alec Burks fitting into this team?
Many people don’t realize this. Over the last three years, Alec has been one of our more consistent, off-season program players that have, has really plugged in day to day, whether that be at P3 or mini-camps or open gym. Again, he was here for summer league training camp, for two-a-days for two days. He was excellent.

So we just are thrilled with where he’s moved his body. He’s become, Alec was always a plus-athlete. I think he’s improved his athleticism, plus he’s a more stable athlete that is less likely to get injured than the day we first got him, because of the things that Mark McKown, Isaiah Wright and P3 and frankly all the work Alec’s put in.

So, Quin [Snyder] and the coaching staff are really excited. Starting, you know, [or] the Manu Ginobili role, it’s safe to say that Alec Burks is gonna be a playmaker for us and we’ll let the team kinda define itself and see where it’s best to have his points and ability to get in the deep paint to complement our group, whether it be as a starter or, again, as a go-to player off the bench.

Update on his sons
I was able to tie-in with both my boys. They were playing out in Vegas, Jake at the LeBron [James] camp, elite camp, and then, and Matt with his AAU club, UBC. So it was a, so far it’s been a good summer, where I’ve been able to balance a little work and a little family time. So yeah, thank you for mentioning that and thank God he’s better than dad. (KALL)